And Why Renee Walker Needed To Die

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Amazingly, some "24" fans expressed shock about the death of Renee Walker by sniper's bullet.

Come on people, she had "Kill Me Ruskies" tattooed on her forehead from episode one. But some fans apparently hoped that she and Jack could walk out of the debris and into the smoke-filled sunset together in the final episode.

Nope. Executive Producer Howard Gordon said last week that Renee was doomed to die from the very dawn of the season. "Typically we come across these things as more improvisations," he said. "But this was one we had come up with at the very beginning."

You cannot fight "24" fate. That said, Gordon added that it was something "we thought about very carefully,"

Why was the death needed? To propel Jack to even greater grief and make the ending that much more emotional. It's more than saving the world, it's personal. "(This) is obviously motivating Jack to this final climatic confrontation and taking him to a place he's never been before," said Gordon.

As for the fan outrage, Gordon says they are used to it at the "24" production offices. Like Jack Bauer, it takes a lot to hurt these guys. "I'm taking people's outrage as a measure of interest," said Gordon. "And their indifference would have been far more hurtful."

Published at 1:12 PM CDT on May 10, 2010 | Updated at 1:42 PM CDT on May 30, 2012